Thor and Loki - As with the first film, the success of this movie hinges on the performance of it's hero and his villainous brother, and once again they deliver. Chris Hemsworth still rocks as The God of Thunder, albeit a more mature and quiet one this time around, in sharp contrast to the loud and boisterous jerkass that he was (before being humbled) in the first film. And Tom Hiddleston once again threatens to steal every scene he's in with his dark and sardonic take on Loki. For me though, the film really shines when both Thor and Loki appear onscreen together. Their scenes are some of the best in the film, and provide some dramatic heft in a film that is somewhat lacking in it. How they go from here will be interesting to see, as the film ends on an ominous note where one of them gets the upper hand on the other.

Natalie Portman - I never got the hate for Jane Foster in the first film. Sure she was a somewhat flat love interest, but other than that I thought she was okay. This time however, she gets to do more than just stand around like some witless bystander. Here her knowledge of astrophysics actively helps in saving the day. Natalie Portman has never looked hotter than she has here, and her onscreen chemistry with Chris Hemsworth is even better this time around.

Frigga - Many of us feel that Rene Russo as Frigga was kind of wasted in the first film. She's a fine actress in her own right, but didn't get to do much. This time however, she gets some good screentime and shows us why she's the Queen of Asgard. It's so good to see her step up as a character, that it comes as a complete shock when Malekith kills her.

Kurse - Wow. The filmmakers went out of their way to make an adversary who can kick Thor's ass. Great screen realization of one of Thor's most powerful foes.

Comedy - Many of us were surprised by how funny the first film was, and the practice certainly continues in The Dark World. But someone must have been taking notes because the gags here are much more numerous here. Most of the laughs come courtesy of Kat Dennings returning as Darcy, with her patented wisecracks, and Stellan Skarsgard as Eric Selvig, by being bat**** insane. But even Loki gets in on the fun with a hilarious moment that lampshades the MCU as a whole. And you have to admire the balls on director Alan Taylor for adding some genuine chuckle worthy scenes in Thor's final confrontation with Malekith.

Asgard 2.0 - Early press releases on the film promised a grittier look to Asgard, and what we get in onscreen certainly doesn't disappoint. While the designs of the buildings have stayed the same, they rid it of any pristine and shininess. Settling on a brown and somber color scheme, Asgard isn't just a city in the stars this time, it looks like a city where people actually live.

Ze Collector - Benicio Del Toro! He looks like a camp galactic salesman, which speaks of the tone of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film he'll appear in next year. And when the Asgardians entrust him with a sacred gem for safekeeping, he hints at a five others. What could that mean I wonder?

Hemsworth and Hiddleston are absolutely terrific together, their chemistry is off the charts.
Loki in general is at his best here. Hiddleston knocks it out of the stadium.
I loved Frigga and the aftermath of her big moment was stunning and the movie's highlight.
Malekith, while underdeveloped, is the biggest threat of the MCU to date, same for Kurse.
Dennings is funnier here than Thor.
Visuals are insane in a great way, the fantasy/sci-fi hybrid works really well.
It has the single best and funniest cameo I can think of.
The end battle is really creative.
The ending will lead to endless evaluations of the movie.

I already wrote a bunch of positive things in the review thread but I can put some more here now that it's been a day and I don't feel like I'm just repeating myself.

Asgard looks great. Tons of great visuals and the best part probably comes in the funeral scene.

Chris and Tom keeps having great chemistry and is my favorite duo in all superhero movies. This movie gave them yet another dynamic to play out.

The villains aren't very deep but I really like their look and the way they fight. This goes for Malekith, Kurse and the rest of the dark elves. I liked their language as well.

Most characters get better things to do and feel more special to me. Jane is far more involved, Frigga gets some very nice scenes, I like Selvig being weird, Fandral, Volstagg and Sif comes off better.

The action and effects are generally very well done. All the way from the various styles of personal combatants up to spaceship combat. It's always kept at decent length and doesn't get repetitive or too much.

I felt that it also balanced the comedy well, despite it being a whole lot of it. It makes it fun and I think humor helps superhero/comic elements work in a movie.

Asgard
It had a much more complete, and 'lived in' feel compared to the original Thor. There's also that one scene in particular... the funeral scene; that was incredible looking.. hit you were it needed to but it was strangely relaxing at the same time

Thor
Hemsworths best performance in the role to date. I just wish we would've got some more from the Thor/Sif angle, that's one point I really hoped would've been explored more, and it probably could've been expanded upon a bit more.

Action
No description needed, just incredible action scenes and the action in general was greatly improved upon compared to the original.

Humour
It was for me easily the funniest Marvel film to date but without getting too silly or goofy, I thought IM3 went too far at times.. this found the right balance with some genuinely witty and hilarious moments. ahem -Captain America had the entire audience in a fair bit of laughter for a while.

Hemsworth and Hiddleston are absolutely terrific together, their chemistry is off the charts.
Loki in general is at his best here. Hiddleston knocks it out of the stadium.
I loved Frigga and the aftermath of her big moment was stunning and the movie's highlight.
Malekith, while underdeveloped, is the biggest threat of the MCU to date, same for Kurse.
Dennings is funnier here than Thor.
Visuals are insane in a great way, the fantasy/sci-fi hybrid works really well.
It has the single best and funniest cameo I can think of.
The end battle is really creative.
The ending will lead to endless evaluations of the movie.

Dude ! Nicely put, You sum up very succinctly, everything that was right about this film.

I thought that the magic/technology hybrid (flying Viking boats) was nicely done, gave the film sort of a star wars feel. Ordinarily that would seem weird, but here it really worked -especially, the look of the Dark Elves' technology, combined with truly amazing visuals, really did make the film a treat to watch. (although those Asgardians did tend to bring swords to a gun fight).

the only thing I disagree with you on is Dennings, but that's cause I'm not a fan. I notice you didn't mention the Thor-Jane romance.... it wasn't particularly convincing, but enough of that, this is the good stuff thread !

I too think Malekith was a bit underused, but still Eccleston radiated plenty of menace. He gets very few lines, but manages to be convincingly evil, a legitimate threat.

Something else that worked was the body count. A lot of Asgardian warriors died, which did a lot to enhance the credibility of the threat posed by the villains -we believe that Malekith and co are a serious, potentially apocalyptic problem.

Hemsworth did a good job, and I liked the more serious side of Thor we see in a lot of this film (just not a lot of chemistry with Portman) but wow, did TDW ever showcase Hiddleston ! He owned every scene he was in, I mean, usually a guy sitting in a cell wouldn't be very interesting, but even those parts of TDW were fun to watch. Whatever bits the writers didn't cover well, they more than made up for in the writing for Loki, and the Loki -Thor scenes.

In any action film, a great turn by the villain can save the whole thing. IN general TDW was a good solid super-hero fantasy-actioner, but Hiddleston's performance kicked it up a level. He gets better with every appearance as Loki (kind of like McKellen as Magneto). And of course, the cameo, that was a clever bit of writing (other than the romance scenes, the writing is very good, for the genre )

Got to give big props to Anthony Hopkins, he's a tiny little man, but has a huge presence as the All-father.

Hemsworth did a good job, and I liked the more serious side of Thor we see in a lot of this film (just not a lot of chemistry with Portman) but wow, did TDW ever showcase Hiddleston ! He owned every scene he was in, I mean, usually a guy sitting in a cell wouldn't be very interesting, but even those parts of TDW were fun to watch. Whatever bits the writers didn't cover well, they more than made up for in the writing for Loki, and the Loki -Thor scenes.

In any action film, a great turn by the villain can save the whole thing. IN general TDW was a good solid super-hero fantasy-actioner, but Hiddleston's performance kicked it up a level. He gets better with every appearance as Loki (kind of like McKellen as Magneto).

Loki is definitely one of the all time great villains in superhero movies and he fits so well in because Tom and Chris have great chemistry and the two being so dissimilar actually works to their advantage. One of the most important parts is that they've been together in three movies and every time they've had a different dynamic with each other. That saves exposure fatigue both within the movies and from the comics into the movies as well.

I like the Thor movies but all the talk about Loki being great is annoying, the character is simply nothing special and his motivations to becoming "evil" were never well explained or made that much of a sence.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by childeroland

Plenty of male-led action films fail, yet the actors' gender is not blamed. Why should it be different for women? Especially since far more male-led action films are made than female-led action films?

I really loved the visuals. this must be the best looking movie of the MCU so far.
The relationship between Loki/Thor/Jane was great, I enjoyed every second.
I love how they used Sif, Fandral, Volstagg and Heimdall in their plan to get Loki out of jail and the trio out of Asgard. It reminded me of a heist movie a little bit.
Mjölnir in the final battle was hilarious. that poor little dog hammer trying to get to Thor.
Eric Selvigg became a full frontal Comic Book scientist in this movie (somthing that Jane is somehow missing)
And the humor! The humor! Funniest of the MCU so far. Those of you who hate to laugh and have fun will hate T:TDW. For the rest of us this was awesome!

I like the Thor movies but all the talk about Loki being great is annoying, the character is simply nothing special and his motivations to becoming "evil" were never well explained or made that much of a sence.

Sure they did. He was treated differently his entire life because Thor was everything an Asgardian should be (strong, courageous, virtuous, etc), whereas Loki was the opposite (brains over brawn, sneaky, dishonest, etc). He was always the second brother, the least favorite and the least loved by Odin. When he found out about being a Frost Giant and Odin's motivations for taking him, it caused something to snap. He hated Odin for what he did and for favoring Thor. Keep in mind, Loki doesn't see what he does as evil at all. I read that in T:TDW, he calls Frigga out on Odin and Thor's actions of killing beings (Frost Giants and others) for the greater good and that's what he himself thought he was doing. Loki sees his own actions as justifiable.

I'm guessing you don't like Loki because everyone talks about him and so you see him as not that great because you're annoyed with the attention he gets. That doesn't mean his character isn't special.